The present invention relates to techniques for improving biochemical-based therapy in a human. More particularly, the present invention relates to computer-implemented techniques for employing task-controlled behavioral assessment and behavioral training, such as stimulus/response exercises or games, to improve the efficacy of the biochemical-based therapy to reduce or eliminate the need thereof, or to reduce the undesirable side effects of the biochemical-based therapy in a human.
The use of biochemical-based therapy involving various biological and/or chemical compounds to address a physiological and/or mental condition in humans is known. Generally speaking, biochemical-based therapy involves repeatedly administering a preset dosage of a biological/chemical compound to a human (by injection, ingestion, transdermal techniques, and/or the like) over a period of time to improve the aforementioned physiological and/or mental condition. By stimulating the human in a pharmacological manner, it is often hoped that over time the physiological and/or mental condition to be addressed would improve to the point where the biochemical-based therapy is no longer needed.
To facilitate discussion, scale 100 of FIG. 1 represents a scale of performance level relating to a particular physiological and/or mental condition (such as, for example, attention span) on which a desired condition 102 represents the level of performance acceptable and/or desirable in a human. On scale 100, the levels of performance by a human A and a human B are shown. As depicted, the levels of performance of humans A and B fall short of desired condition 102. To bring the levels of performance of humans A and B closer to desired condition 102, the prior art biochemical-based therapy may involve administering preset dosages of a biological and/or chemical compound over a predefined period of time to human A and human B. By driving the improvement in a pharmacological manner, it is commonly hoped that over time the level of performance of humans A and B in this particular condition (e.g., attention span) may improve to the point where the dosages of biological and/or chemical compound may be reduced or terminated altogether.
It has been found, however, that when the improvement in human is driven solely by pharmacological effects of the administered biological/chemical compounds, humans tend to develop a tolerance condition, which over time may actually require an increase in the required dosage of the biological/chemical compounds administered.
Furthermore, for many administered biological/chemical compounds, there are side effects which must be tolerated and/or addressed with even more biochemical-based therapy (e.g., by administering yet other biological/chemical compounds to address the side effects). With reference to FIG. 2A, scale 200 represents the scale of performance pertaining to a particular condition of the human, which condition may be impacted as an undesirable side effect of the biochemical-based therapy administered to address the first ailment or deficit (e.g., such as the attention deficit condition of the example of FIG. 1). Scale 200 may represent, for example, the level of sleepiness or hand shaking in the human subject.
In FIG. 2A, the intrinsic levels of sleepiness, i.e., the levels of sleepiness in the absence of the biochemical-based therapy, of humans A and B are shown. In FIG. 2B, the administration of the biochemical-based therapy to address the related attention deficit condition has undesirably increased the levels of sleepiness in humans A and B. As mentioned earlier this undesirable side effect just, in the prior art, either be tolerated (such as avoiding driving) or addressed with yet more biochemical-based therapy (such as ingesting caffeine).
Furthermore, it is recognized that even if immediate side effects are not observed in connection with a given biochemical-based therapy regime, there are lingering concerns regarding the long term effects associated with the administration of biological/chemical compounds which may not be naturally produced by human. Accordingly, recent trends have shown an increased reluctance on the part of people to continue a biochemical-based therapy program for an extended period of time and/or to take increasing dosages of biological/chemical compounds (due to, e.g., the aforementioned tolerance problem) to address a particular physiological and/or mental condition.
In view of the foregoing, there are desired improved techniques for improving the efficacy of the biological/chemical compounds employed in biochemical-based therapy and/or for reducing the undesirable side effects thereof without employing additional biochemical-based therapy.